Autonomous vehicle with reconfigurable seats

ABSTRACT

A vehicle includes a passenger compartment with an instrument panel located near a front of the passenger compartment. The vehicle further includes at least one seat located in the passenger compartment. The seat can be stowed under the instrument panel for when the vehicle is operating in an autonomous mode.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to U.S. Ser. No. ______ filed Nov. 20, 2013and U.S. Ser. No. ______ filed on Nov. 20, 2013, both titled “AUTONOMOUSVEHICLE WITH RECONFIGURABLE SEATS”, the contents of which are herebyincorporated by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

Autonomous vehicles are becoming more sophisticated. As the level ofsophistication increases, the amount of passenger interaction requiredby the autonomous vehicle decreases. Eventually, autonomous vehicleswill require no passenger interaction beyond, e.g., selecting adestination, leaving passengers to focus on non-driving-related tasks.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary autonomous vehicle with reconfigurableseats.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary system that may be used in theautonomous vehicle of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 3A-3B illustrate one exemplary passenger compartment of anautonomous vehicle with reconfigurable seats.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary passenger compartment having an airbaglocated between rows of seats.

FIG. 5 illustrates a second exemplary passenger compartment of anautonomous vehicle with reconfigurable seats.

FIG. 6 illustrates a third exemplary passenger compartment of anautonomous vehicle with reconfigurable seats.

FIG. 7 illustrates a fourth exemplary passenger compartment of anautonomous vehicle with reconfigurable seats.

FIG. 8 illustrates a fifth exemplary passenger compartment of anautonomous vehicle with reconfigurable seats.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An exemplary autonomous vehicle includes a passenger compartment and atleast one seat located in the passenger compartment. The seat can bemoved from a front-facing position to a rear-facing position when thevehicle is stationary or while the vehicle is operating in an autonomousmode. In some implementations, the seat may include a bench seat with abottom portion and a back portion. The bench seat may be configured tomove from a front-facing position to a rear-facing position by movingthe back portion toward a front of the passenger compartment. Moreover,the seat may be stowed under the instrument panel in certainimplementations. The vehicle may further include autonomous drivingsensors and an autonomous controller that receives signals generated bythe autonomous driving sensors (e.g., sensors for driving the vehicle inan autonomous mode) and controls at least one vehicle subsystem tooperate the vehicle in autonomous mode according to the signalsreceived.

The FIGS. illustrate exemplary views of an autonomous vehicle 100 withreconfigurable seats. The vehicle may take many different forms andinclude multiple and/or alternate components and facilities. While anexemplary vehicle is shown, the exemplary components illustrated are notintended to be limiting. Indeed, additional or alternative componentsand/or implementations may be used. Moreover, the components shown inthe FIGS. are not necessarily drawn to scale.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the vehicle 100 includes a passengercompartment 105 located in an interior of the vehicle 100. The passengercompartment 105 may include any part of the vehicle 100 where passengersmay sit while the vehicle 100 is operating. In addition, the passengercompartment 105 may include seats 110 and controls that allow a driverto control operation of the vehicle 100. Examples of controls mayinclude a steering wheel 115, an accelerator pedal 120, a brake pedal125, etc. Although illustrated as a sedan, the vehicle 100 may includeany passenger or commercial vehicle such as a car, a truck, a sportutility vehicle, a taxi, a bus, etc.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary system 130 that may be used inthe autonomous vehicle 100. As shown, the system 130 includes a userinterface device 135, autonomous driving sensors 140, an autonomous modecontroller 145, and a seat motor 150.

The user interface device 135 may be configured to present informationto a user, such as a driver, during operation of the vehicle 100.Moreover, the user interface device 135 may be configured to receiveuser inputs. Thus, the user interface device 135 may be located in thepassenger compartment 105 of the vehicle 100. In some possibleapproaches, the user interface device 135 may include a touch-sensitivedisplay screen.

The autonomous driving sensors 140 may include any number of devicesconfigured to generate signals that help navigate the vehicle 100 whilethe vehicle 100 is operating in an autonomous (e.g., driverless) mode.Examples of autonomous driving sensors 140 may include a radar sensor, alidar sensor, a camera, or the like. The autonomous driving sensors 140help the vehicle 100 “see” the roadway and the vehicle surroundingsand/or negotiate various obstacles while the vehicle 100 is operating inthe autonomous mode.

The autonomous mode controller 145 may be configured to control one ormore subsystems 155 while the vehicle 100 is operating in the autonomousmode. Examples of subsystems 155 that may be controlled by theautonomous mode controller 145 may include a brake subsystem, asuspension subsystem, a steering subsystem, and a powertrain subsystem.The autonomous mode controller 145 may control any one or more of thesesubsystems 155 by outputting signals to control units associated withthese subsystems 155. The autonomous mode controller 145 may control thesubsystems 155 based, at least in part, on signals generated by theautonomous driving sensors 140.

The seat motors 150 may be configured to control the position and/ororientation of one or more seats 110 inside the passenger compartment105. Each motor 150 may be associated with only one seat 110.Alternatively, a single motor 150 may be used to move multiple seats110, including an entire row of seats 110. The motor 150 may operate inaccordance with control signals output by the user interface device 135.For example, the user interface device 135 may receive commands from thedriver or another passenger indicating a desire for one or more seats110 to adopt a particular configuration. The motor 150 may automaticallyadjust the seats 110 to the desired configuration. Examples of differentpossible seat 110 configurations are described in greater detail below.For example, the motor 150 may cause the seat 110 to pivot, fold,unfold, slide, recline, etc.

Referring now to FIGS. 3A-3B, the passenger compartment 105 includes anumber of seats 110 and a center console 160. The seats 110 may includeone or more bucket seats, captain's chairs, bench seats, split benchseats, or the like. Moreover, the seats 110 may be separated into rows,including a first row, a second row, and in some instances, a third row(see, e.g., FIG. 8). The first row may generally refer to the rowclosest to the front of the vehicle 100. One or more seats 110, such asthe seats 110 in the first row, may be moved from a front-facingposition to a rear-facing position while the vehicle is stationary orwhile the vehicle is moving to allow the passengers in the vehicle 100to face one another when the vehicle 100 is operating in the autonomousmode.

One way to move the seats 110 from the front-facing position to therear-facing position may be to rotate the seat 110. The seat 110 may berotated about an axis 175A that extends generally perpendicularly from afloor of the vehicle 100 and through a center of the seat 110. Rotatingthe seat 110 may occur automatically when the vehicle 100 is operatingin the autonomous mode or while the vehicle is parked. Moreover, theseat 110 may be rotated manually by, e.g., removing and repositioningthe seat 110 or spinning the seat 110 about the axis 175A.

Alternatively, one part of the seat 110, such as a back portion 165, maypivot relative to another part of the seat 110, such as a bottom portion170. FIGS. 3A-3B show how the back portion 165 may pivot relative to anaxis 175B defined by the bottom portion 170. That is, the back portion165 of the seat 110 may include one or more arms 180 that are pivotallyattached to a frame 185 of the bottom portion 170. When the back portion165 has been pivoted to a rear-facing position, the bottom portion 170may become angled toward the front of the vehicle 100 as shown. Themovement of the seat 110 from the front-facing position to therear-facing position, and vice versa, may be actuated manually or by themotor 150 (not shown in FIGS. 3A-3B) when the vehicle 100 is stationaryor operating in the autonomous mode. Different ways of reorienting theseats are described for illustrative purposes only. Other suitable waysto reorient the seats while the vehicle is stationary or moving inautonomous mode may alternatively be used.

A locking mechanism (not shown) may prevent the seat 110 from beingmoved to the rear-facing position, and vice versa. The locking mechanismmay be manually unlocked by the user or automatically by, e.g., themotor 150 or another device. The original position of the seat 110 isshown in FIG. 3A, and FIG. 3B shows one of the seats 110 in a rearwardposition.

The console 160 located between the two front seats 110 may beconfigured to slide toward the front of the vehicle 100 when one or bothseats 110 in the front row are in the rear-facing position.Alternatively, the console 160 may slide toward the back of the vehicle100 to a position between the first and second rows of seats 110. Thisway, when one or more seats 110 in the first row are oriented in arear-facing position, the center console 160 may act as a tableavailable for passengers in either the first row and/or second row touse. The rearward movement of the central console 160 may alsofacilitate the reorientation of seats 110, which move between forwardand rearward orientations by rotational movements. In other words, theentire console 160 may move toward a center of the passenger compartment105 to allow one or more of the seats 110 to change orientations. FIG.3A shows the console 160 in its original position while FIG. 3B showsthe console 160 moved away from the front of the vehicle 100.

Referring now to FIG. 4, an airbag 190 may be located in the passengercompartment 105 between the first and second rows of seats 110. Theairbag 190 may be deployed as a result of a collision while the vehicle100 is operating in the autonomous mode and/or in a non-autonomous mode.The airbag 190 may be shaped such that a single airbag may be used forall passengers, including rear-facing passengers sitting in the firstrow and front-facing passengers sitting in the second row or multipleairbags may be used. Although the seats 110 shown in FIG. 4 areseparate, the seats 110 may include bench seats or split bench seatsthat form an entire row, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate a passenger compartment 105 with two rows ofbench seats 110. In FIG. 5, the first row is arranged in a rear-facingposition and the second row is arranged in a front-facing position.Although not shown in FIG. 5, the front bench seat 110 may include arms180 and a frame 185 similar to those shown in FIG. 3 for moving thefront bench seat 110 into the rear-facing position. Therefore, the backportion 165 of the bench seat 110 may be configured to pivot about theaxis 175B (see FIG. 3) defined by the bottom portion 170 to move intothe rear-facing position. Pivoting the back portion 165 about the axis175B and toward the front of the passenger compartment 105 may cause thebench seat 110 to be arranged in the rear-facing position while pivotingthe back portion 165 about the axis 175B and away from the front of thepassenger compartment 105 may cause the bench seat 110 to be arranged inthe front-facing position (shown in solid line in FIG. 6). Moreover, thesteering wheel 115 may move toward the instrument panel 195 to make roomfor the front seats 110 to move toward the instrument panel 195 toincrease the leg room between the front and second row seats 110 whenthe front seats 110 are facing rearward.

Alternatively, with reference to FIGS. 6-8, the front row seats 110 maybe folded toward the front of the passenger compartment 105 aboutanother axis 175C defined by the bottom portion 170 of each seat 110.The seats 110 may be folded and, e.g., stowed under the instrument panel195, which may be located at the front of the passenger compartment 105.In one possible approach, the folded seats 110, including the driverseat and the front passenger seat, may slide along rails 200, located onthe floor in the passenger compartment 105, toward an area underneaththe instrument panel 195. FIG. 6 illustrates an example where the frontrow includes a bench seat 110 and FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate exampleswhere the front row includes adjacent bucket seats 110 (i.e., a driverseat and a front passenger seat). The motor 150 (see FIG. 2) may be usedto fold the seats 110 and/or move the seats 110 to the location underthe instrument panel 195. Moreover, the motor 150 may return one or moreof the seats 110 to their original positions and/or orientations.

To accommodate the seats 110 under the instrument panel 195, one or morecomponents located in the passenger compartment 105, such as theaccelerator pedal 120 and the brake pedal 125 (see FIG. 1), may be movedfurther toward the front of the passenger compartment 105. Moreover, thesteering wheel 115 may move to make room for the driver's seat 110 toslide under the instrument panel 195. In some possible approaches,another row of seats 110, such as the second row or third row (see FIG.8), may move forward when the seats 110 in the first row are stowedunder the instrument panel 195. Alternatively, or in addition, the thirdrow may, e.g., recline so that the back portion 165 and bottom portion170 are substantially aligned with one another.

In general, computing systems and/or devices, such as the autonomousmode controller 145, may employ any of a number of computer operatingsystems, including, but by no means limited to, versions and/orvarieties of the Ford SYNC® operating system, the Microsoft Windows®operating system, the Unix operating system (e.g., the Solaris®operating system distributed by Oracle Corporation of Redwood Shores,Calif.), the AIX UNIX operating system distributed by InternationalBusiness Machines of Armonk, N.Y., the Linux operating system, the MacOS X and iOS operating systems distributed by Apple Inc. of Cupertino,Calif., and the Android operating system developed by the Open HandsetAlliance. Examples of computing devices include, without limitation, acomputer workstation, a server, a desktop, notebook, laptop, or handheldcomputer, or some other computing system and/or device.

Computing devices generally include computer-executable instructions,where the instructions may be executable by one or more computingdevices such as those listed above. Computer-executable instructions maybe compiled or interpreted from computer programs created using avariety of programming languages and/or technologies, including, withoutlimitation, and either alone or in combination, Java™, C, C++, VisualBasic, Java Script, Perl, etc. In general, a processor (e.g., amicroprocessor) receives instructions, e.g., from a memory, acomputer-readable medium, etc., and executes these instructions, therebyperforming one or more processes, including one or more of the processesdescribed herein. Such instructions and other data may be stored andtransmitted using a variety of computer-readable media.

A computer-readable medium (also referred to as a processor-readablemedium) includes any non-transitory (e.g., tangible) medium thatparticipates in providing data (e.g., instructions) that may be read bya computer (e.g., by a processor of a computer). Such a medium may takemany forms, including, but not limited to, non-volatile media andvolatile media. Non-volatile media may include, for example, optical ormagnetic disks and other persistent memory. Volatile media may include,for example, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), which typicallyconstitutes a main memory. Such instructions may be transmitted by oneor more transmission media, including coaxial cables, copper wire andfiber optics, including the wires that comprise a system bus coupled toa processor of a computer. Common forms of computer-readable mediainclude, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk,magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, DVD, any otheroptical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium withpatterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EEPROM, any othermemory chip or cartridge, or any other medium from which a computer canread.

In some examples, system elements may be implemented ascomputer-readable instructions (e.g., software) on one or more computingdevices (e.g., servers, personal computers, etc.), stored on computerreadable media associated therewith (e.g., disks, memories, etc.). Acomputer program product may comprise such instructions stored oncomputer readable media for carrying out the functions described herein.

With regard to the processes, systems, methods, heuristics, etc.described herein, it should be understood that, although the steps ofsuch processes, etc. have been described as occurring according to acertain ordered sequence, such processes could be practiced with thedescribed steps performed in an order other than the order describedherein. It further should be understood that certain steps could beperformed simultaneously, that other steps could be added, or thatcertain steps described herein could be omitted. In other words, thedescriptions of processes herein are provided for the purpose ofillustrating certain embodiments, and should in no way be construed soas to limit the claims.

Accordingly, it is to be understood that the above description isintended to be illustrative and not restrictive. Many embodiments andapplications other than the examples provided would be apparent uponreading the above description. The scope should be determined, not withreference to the above description, but should instead be determinedwith reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope ofequivalents to which such claims are entitled. It is anticipated andintended that future developments will occur in the technologiesdiscussed herein, and that the disclosed systems and methods will beincorporated into such future embodiments. In sum, it should beunderstood that the application is capable of modification andvariation.

All terms used in the claims are intended to be given their broadestreasonable constructions and their ordinary meanings as understood bythose knowledgeable in the technologies described herein unless anexplicit indication to the contrary in made herein. In particular, useof the singular articles such as “a,” “the,” “said,” etc. should be readto recite one or more of the indicated elements unless a claim recitesan explicit limitation to the contrary.

The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to allow the reader toquickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It issubmitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpretor limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in theforegoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features aregrouped together in various embodiments for the purpose of streamliningthe disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted asreflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require morefeatures than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as thefollowing claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than allfeatures of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims arehereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claimstanding on its own as a separately claimed subject matter.

1. A vehicle comprising: a passenger compartment having an instrumentpanel located near a front of the passenger compartment; and at leastone seat located in the passenger compartment and configured to bestowed under the instrument panel for when the vehicle is operating inan autonomous mode.
 2. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein stowing the atleast one seat includes folding the seat and moving the seat to aposition under the instrument panel.
 3. The vehicle of claim 2, whereinthe seat is configured to slide along rails in the passengercompartment, and wherein moving the seat to the position under theinstrument panel includes sliding the seat along the rails.
 4. Thevehicle of claim 1, further comprising at least one motor operablyattached to the seat and configured to move the seat to a position underthe instrument panel.
 5. The vehicle of claim 4, wherein the motor isconfigured to return the seat to an original position.
 6. The vehicle ofclaim 4, wherein the motor is configured to move the seat when thevehicle is stationary.
 7. The vehicle of claim 4, wherein the motor isconfigured to move the seat while the vehicle is moving and operating inthe autonomous mode.
 8. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising anaccelerator pedal and a brake pedal under the instrument panel, whereinthe accelerator pedal and the brake pedal are configured to move towarda front of the vehicle when the seat is stowed under the instrumentpanel.
 9. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising a steering wheellocated in the passenger compartment, wherein the steering wheel isconfigured to move toward the instrument panel to allow the seat to bestowed under the instrument panel.
 10. The vehicle of claim 1, whereinthe at least one seat includes a front row of seats and a back row ofseats, wherein the front row of seats is configured to be stowed underthe instrument panel.
 11. The vehicle of claim 10, wherein the back rowof seats is configured to move toward a front of the vehicle when thefront row of seats is stowed under the instrument panel.
 12. A vehiclecomprising: autonomous driving sensors; an autonomous controllerconfigured to receive signals generated by the autonomous drivingsensors and control at least one vehicle subsystems according to thesignals; a passenger compartment having an instrument panel located neara front of the passenger compartment; and at least one seat located inthe passenger compartment and configured to be stowed under theinstrument panel for when the vehicle is operating in an autonomousmode.
 13. The vehicle of claim 12, wherein stowing the at least one seatincludes folding the seat and moving the seat to a position under theinstrument panel.
 14. The vehicle of claim 12, further comprising atleast one motor operably attached to the seat and configured to move theseat to a position under the instrument panel and return the seat to anoriginal position.
 15. The vehicle of claim 14, wherein the motor isconfigured to move the seat while the vehicle is moving and operating inthe autonomous mode.
 16. The vehicle of claim 12, wherein the at leastone seat includes a front row of seats and a back row of seats, whereinthe front row of seats is configured to be stowed under the instrumentpanel and the back row of seats is configured to move toward a front ofthe vehicle when the front row of seats are stowed under the instrumentpanel.
 17. A vehicle comprising: autonomous driving sensors; anautonomous controller configured to receive signals generated by theautonomous driving sensors and control at least one vehicle subsystemsaccording to the signals; a passenger compartment having an instrumentpanel located near a front of the passenger compartment; a front row ofseats located in the passenger compartment and configured to slide alongrails located in the passenger compartment; a back row of seats locatedin the passenger compartment, wherein the front row of seats isconfigured to be stowed under the instrument panel for when the vehicleis operating in an autonomous mode and the back row of seats isconfigured to move toward a front of the vehicle when the front row ofseats are stowed under the instrument panel.
 18. The vehicle of claim17, further comprising an accelerator pedal and a brake pedal under theinstrument panel, wherein the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal areconfigured to move toward a front of the vehicle when the front row ofseats is stowed under the instrument panel.
 19. The vehicle of claim 17,further comprising a steering wheel located in the passengercompartment, wherein the steering wheel is configured to move toward theinstrument panel to allow the front row of seats to be stowed under theinstrument panel.
 20. The vehicle of claim 17, further comprising atleast one motor operably attached to the front row of seats andconfigured to move the front row of seats to a position under theinstrument panel.